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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499884">let me make you proud</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_blue_hightops/pseuds/sky_blue_hightops'>sky_blue_hightops</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sun and Moon AU [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood Loss, Brother Feels, Dark Prince Eugene, Gen, Hurt Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider, Injury, Moon Powers Varian (Disney), Platonic Soulmates, Protective Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider, Team Awesome (Disney: Tangled), Varian Needs a Hug (Disney), Whump</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:15:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499884</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_blue_hightops/pseuds/sky_blue_hightops</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Stabbingtons showing up at their meetup spot wasn’t expected, at least not that day. The Stabbingtons wanting revenge? Well. That was easier to see coming.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider &amp; Varian, Rapunzel &amp; Varian (Disney), Ruddiger &amp; Varian (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sun and Moon AU [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>152</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>let me make you proud</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Stabbingtons showing up at their meetup spot wasn’t expected, at least not that day. The Stabbingtons wanting revenge? Well. That was easier to see coming.</p><p>“This sure is interestin’, Rider. Got yourself a little sidekick?” The sneer that accompanied those words was anything but friendly, and Varian hid a wince. Going on heists with Eugene and these two had been something he’d wanted to do for so long, but now, facing them, he wasn’t so sure anymore.</p><p>Eugene bristled, free hand drifting backwards as if to push Varian further behind him. “Say another word about him and I’ll leave you wishing you were dead,” he snarled, voice hard in a way Varian had only heard a handful of times. A rare few times with unlucky bandits, adults with an air of malice, city guards.</p><p>Once with his father, before they left.</p><p>Ruddiger chittered softly on his shoulder, having left the tense line of Eugene’s back for Varian’s arms at the first sign of trouble. Varian curled his fingers around soft tail fur, rubbing gently, the action calming. They’d be fine. They’d wiggled out of worse situations before, and at least <em> this </em>time Eugene had a knife.</p><p>“Nah, see, here’s what I think,” the other brother stepped forwards, hair a dark amber under the new moon. There was barely any moonlight to see by, and the dark forest clearing loomed behind the man dangerously, adding to the way he towered. “What if we made you wish you were dead? Oh, y’know, after all your betrayals in the past…maybe it’s about time someone hurt <em> you</em>.” </p><p>“And here’s what <em> I </em> think,” The other one piped up again, sickening glare half-hidden behind his eyepatch. “I <em> think </em> Flynn Rider wouldn’t have a kid with him unless he cared. A lot. And I <em> think </em> we’re due some fair repayment - an eye for an eye, maybe.” Cold fear washed down Varian’s spine, and the entire world narrowed to that one glare and Eugene’s hand around his wrist. “But he’s just a little kiddie, isn’t he? We promise we won’t hurt him too bad.” He grinned with all his teeth, hand resting on the hilt of his dagger before drawing it in a smooth motion, blade as long as his forearm, and stepping forwards quickly.</p><p>Eugene flinched, shoving at Varian and snatching his knife. “Get back, Varian, stay down-”</p><p>“Eugene, wait, I can-” Varian stumbled over his feet, tripping backwards. Ruddiger squeaked with alarm and lost his purchase, skittering off towards the bushes. Cold air touched the spot he left behind, and Varian shivered, fingers digging into the dirt. Knives clashed before him. There was a determined fury in every line of Eugene’s face, but there were two Stabbington brothers.</p><p>The first brother went sprawling as Eugene butted him with a shoulder, before the second one came lunging in with his own dagger. Eugene clashed with him and they stumbled through a dangerous back and forth, more graceful slices broken up by punches and a fierce grappling for the upper hand. Varian hissed, frantic, unable to help; he didn’t have any weapons - Eugene had the knife. The soft, dark dirt held no rocks. Varian half-considered chucking his shoes and then felt a little stupid, and then pulled one off and threw it as hard as he could. <em> Just </em>as Eugene ducked an arm and dodged a swipe of the dagger, the shoe sailed past his ear and bounced directly off the eyepatch. The brother went staggering, howling with pain, and when Eugene turned to flash him a grin and a thumbs up, Varian felt an almost overwhelming relief-</p><p>-but could only watch, frozen with horror, as the other one lumbered to his feet and threw his dagger from several feet away. He screamed out for Eugene in his head, involuntarily, but his mouth couldn’t move, his hands couldn’t wave-</p><p>The sharp metal found its target in Eugene’s side. The grin faltered and his eyes widened before Eugene fumbled for the handle, patted at the wound clumsily, and then fell to his knees. “-<em>Eugene! </em> ” Varian scrambled to his feet, landing roughly next to him. His eyes watered as the cold, cold fear returned, splashing down his back like ice water, and he couldn’t keep back a sob. “No, no- c’mon, please, <em> please</em>-” </p><p>“Hey, kiddo,” his brother whispered, “it’s fine, see? I’m fine.” He pulled at his shirt, pressing it around the edge of the knife, and then there was a gush of red. Varian wavered, blinking black spots away, and tore his gaze from the wound to meet Eugene’s eyes. Eugene had the gall to look sheepish, smile tugging at his lips, gaze unfocusing. “Okay, so, a little not fine.”</p><p>There was a tug deep down in his chest. Varian snapped his head up, fear giving way to a stone-brittle detachment. It was as if all the anger and terror in his bones had frozen into something very sharp, and very, very dangerous. The look in his eyes made even the bigger brother falter from where he’d begun to advance on Eugene and Varian again, dagger at the ready. </p><p>“You don’t know what you’ve done,” Varian breathed. Fire froze in his veins. His voice echoed in his own ears. “You don’t know. You’re a <em> fool</em>.”</p><p>“You think <em> I’m </em>a fool, kid?” The brother’s laugh was demeaning, bitter, and Varian curled his hands into fists. Somewhere behind him, Eugene protested weakly, still pushing his fighting spirit. “Rider’s played us like ones before, sure, but now it’s his turn. Step aside, now. Scram.”</p><p>A silent pause, sharper than the flint Varian used to start fires. Blue eyes hardened. “Don’t you <em> dare </em> call me that.”</p><p>“No?” The man looked amused. Varian pivoted on his knees, rose slowly to his feet. The soil was cool between his toes, and he ground them in. An odd thrum seemed to rise up to meet him, to root him, anchoring him from the balls of his feet to the ends of his hair. </p><p>He drew in a breath. No more hiding. No more cowering behind his older brother. He’d run away before, but not this time, not with Eugene behind him and years’ worth of fury and power bubbling up inside him, waiting for a target.</p><p>It was easy to call up the memories of black, gleaming hallways, of an opal’s claim on his soul, of being told he wouldn’t ever amount to enough. Being told that his control wasn’t trained enough, that if he couldn’t get a handle on his magic, he’d be a failure. That his powers wouldn’t ever be useful until he learned to fully let go.</p><p>A dry, pained laugh rose in his throat. Maybe the king was right.</p><p>Maybe it was time to let <em> go</em>.</p><p>The tug in his chest became unbearable. He reached out to it, drew from it, and realized - the tension was from holding back, from burying under the surface powers he’d always wished he’d never had. “...No.” Varian finally agreed, voice bitter, and called to mind words he hadn’t thought in years. “Only Eugene gets to call me kid.” </p><p>The moment broke (his hold broke, a wave of something indescribable was free, it was fighting, and who was Varian to say no) and the brother leapt forwards, viciousness returning in an instant and a sudden snarl tearing from his throat, raising and raising and raising his dagger - and Varian drew to his full height, opened his mouth, and let the song flow out.</p><p>The echo through the woods rang eerie and ancient, the tune like ivy and moss under the shine of night. “<em> Crescent high above</em>, <em> evolving as you go, raise what lies beneath, and let the darkness grow</em>...” The earth shook around them, fissures opening to let rock sprout like biting teeth, soil shifting as spikes of solid black rose and slanted. Varian shivered; the jolt of fear that came with his words was instinctual, a muscle memory from another time. </p><p>He was <em> sick </em> of being afraid. He was <em> sick </em> of being <em> weak</em>.</p><p>“<em>Bend it to my will</em>,” he bit out, and he could see the blue of his hair in the man’s wide eyes, could sense the way he trembled through the solid foundation of the dirt. “<em>Consume the sunlight’s glow, rise into the sky, and let the darkness grow… </em>”</p><p>Rock shot upwards, missing skin and flesh and fear by mere inches, sharper than any sword, and a hint of satisfaction nestled into the numb pain in Varian’s chest. Both thieves stumbled backwards, focused entirely on not losing their heads and only a little on the restrained fury of a boy before them, before finally turning and escaping with few terrified and jagged words exchanged between them.</p><p>What they said was irrelevant. What they wanted was pathetic. Nothing could be significant before the full presence of the moon, before the desperate, chilled anger of a brother with someone to protect.</p><p>And for one lost, empty moment, he wasn’t Varian and wasn’t a brother and wasn’t much of anything at all, just vacant and hollowed and standing tall under the night sky. “Let the darkness grow,” he finished, voice barely a whisper - and then the moment was gone. His skin felt like his own again. His knees went weak and he staggered a step. He’d never drawn on the full power of that incantation before, had never been able to, and the searing rush had taken all his strength in its wake.</p><p>It took a second to collect his thoughts. “Eugene,” he rasped, collapsing to his knees again. He looked...so much <em> worse</em>, so pale against the dark ground, red <em> everywhere</em>. “I-I don’t- Eugene?”</p><p>No answer, barely any sound - just the faintest hint of breath through his lips. “I’m so sorry,” Varian mumbled. “I don’t know what to do, I don’t-” He pressed his hands to the wound, still leaking red. “You gotta wake up, Eugene, you’ve lost t-too much blood-” The sight of it all made the faint feeling behind his eyes grow, but he pushed through. His brother remained unresponsive, eyes shut in a pained grimace, and Varian almost held Eugene’s face in his hands until he noticed the blood streaking up to his wrists. “Eugene, please, <em> please- </em>”</p><p>Another memory from long ago nagged at him, dividing his attention. It was from when he was very young, from when they were still trying to test the limits of his powers. It rippled like gold when he finally pinned it down - a gold and a warmth he only knew in the safest parts of his soul. A last ditch effort; a miracle, if it worked. Could he use his powers twice in one night? He’d never been able to call forth the rocks like that before, so maybe this would be another first. He prayed it would and choked back another sob, the numbness finally giving way to the most fear he’d ever felt. He had <em> everything </em> to lose if he didn’t fix this <em> right now</em>. Help was too far away, the sleeping forest stretching out in all directions - Corona was the closest city, and yet still too far. </p><p>Varian placed his hands against the wound and shifted to curl into Eugene’s side, trying to press them together as much as possible. This tune hummed low and brilliant in his throat, and he took comfort in the warmth it inspired. “<em>Flower gleam a-and glow, let your power shine. </em> ” Magic stirred but refused to move, as if he was making ripples but not disturbing waves. His voice caught on his frustration and desperation, and his hands shook. “<em>M-make the clock reverse, bring back what...once was mine- </em>”</p><p>Still nothing. This didn’t work for him. It never had, and it wouldn’t now, no matter how many times he sang it. He couldn’t hold back his tears anymore, hitting Eugene’s chest. “Please, Eugene, <em>wake up</em>, just wake up, you idiot- you’re still mine, you’re <em>still</em> <em>mine!</em>” His lungs caved, a horrible feeling rising in his throat, and he paid no mind to the blood and held Eugene’s face tightly and tucked his head under Eugene’s chin and <em>shook</em>. “You should’ve let me <em>help</em>,” he sobbed. “Why couldn’t I just help?”</p><p>He took a ragged breath, carefully, then two more, and paused to press a kiss to Eugene’s forehead before pulling away. He stumbled upright and almost fell back down, energy sapped from the magic and the blood.</p><p>There were rusty handprints on his brother’s cheeks. Red coated the ground. He stepped away one more time, and it felt like stepping away from the only thing that had <em> ever </em> mattered. It felt like letting go. “I’m. I’m gonna get someone, okay? I’ll be right back. I promise. I promise I’ll be right back, I’m gonna fix this, just watch me.”</p><p>“I’ll make it up to you.” He would. He’d find help, and fix Eugene, and they’d go back to a careful survival in the outskirts of the city, and everything would be <em> okay </em>. He wouldn’t listen to the quiet, lost, broken bits of him that told him it was too late, that he’d already failed. Everything would work out if he could just fix it himself, he knew it.</p><p>He didn’t pause once in his wild dash to Corona’s fringes, sheer adrenaline keeping him on his feet, and couldn’t push the image of Eugene on the ground out of his mind no matter how much he wished he could. </p>
<hr/><p>The streets were empty.</p><p>He couldn’t process it at first. Every window was dark, shuttered, the curtains drawn. Not a single person roamed the moonlit pathways. No door cracked open to let light spill through. No faces glancing from the insides, no hands to help him. Varian wheeled on his feet, world crashing down. He couldn’t - there was <em> no one</em>.</p><p>The realization that he would have no help tonight dawned slow and painful. He had no money and definitely no one else he knew by name. The first door he pounded on refused to budge. The second one prompted glares from behind sheer curtains, and he cowered for a second before snarling back, cornered and wild. The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth all varied on the same theme - either no response, or “<em>get lost </em> ” or “<em>who are </em> you” or “<em>not tonight </em> ” or “<em>run along </em>”.</p><p>He trembled, bare feet against cobblestone, blue eyes picking out the houses in the darkness. They’d all abandoned him and turned him away. He didn’t know why - his hair, still faintly blue from the exhausting display earlier? The cracked look in his eyes, the tears on his cheeks? The blood dried under his fingernails, staining his hands and wrists?</p><p>And maybe it was there, alone in the streets of Corona, where he began to fall apart.</p>
<hr/><p>“Eugene, Eugene, I couldn’t find anyone, but it’s okay, we don’t need them, I’ll figure it out-” Varian skittered to a stop in the middle of the clearing. “...Eugene?”</p><p>The form on the ground didn’t move. Not even his chest stirred. “Eugene, you have to get up.” The quiet, lost, broken bits from earlier grew louder, a chaotic mess of panic swirling around his head. He wished his words were more for Eugene’s benefit than his own, but his brother couldn’t hear him, couldn’t respond. “No, no-”</p><p>“That’s him, sir!” The voices just beyond the trees rung out loud and harsh. <em> They’re back, they’re back, the Stabbingtons, somehow they brought castle guards, they’re back</em>, Varian realized, and so was the fear that pooled paralyzingly at the base of his spine. He didn’t have enough left in him to recite the song once more, not after a too-successful try and a failure. “Right there, with the body!”</p><p><em> The body </em> was almost enough to get Varian to throw up right then and there. Two guards stepped out from the trees, one a thinner silhouette and the other more than stocky enough to take down a scrawny fourteen-year-old. “Step away immediately!” The thinner one brandished a sword, and Varian knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use it. On <em> him</em>.</p><p>How had everything gone so <em> wrong?</em></p><p>“I-I’m-,” Varian stuttered, hands in the air. “I don’t-”</p><p>The stockier man positioned himself forwards, eyes narrowed, but something unsure behind the glare. “Assault, murder. We’ll have to see what the king says about you, and the magic,” he said, tone carefully measured. Varian didn’t know <em> much </em> about Corona’s legal system, but he knew what an arrest sounded like. He also, thanks to Eugene, knew how to evade arrest. He would just - he’d just escape, quietly, while he still could-</p><p>One of the brothers, face obscured by his hood to no doubt evade the guards’ notice, interjected with a voice of pure malice. “He’s magic, that kid, he’ll kill y-”</p><p>All restraint left him immediately, all the fury from earlier boiling over and the pure <em> loss </em> smashing him in pieces. “I’ll kill <em> YOU! </em> ” Varian screamed, eyes blazing suddenly. “You did this, you took him, I’ll <em> TEAR </em>you apart-” He dug his feet into the ground for the second time that night, moonlight bubbling up under his skin like a beaker left too long unwatched. Abandoned. Burnt and explosive and dangerous, from the broken shell of glass to the scalding contents within. The guards lurched forwards at the outburst, sensing genuine danger, and Varian couldn’t hold back a sob. “Please, please-”</p><p>He curled in on himself and the bigger guard held out a hand, maybe understanding, maybe just confused, but Varian couldn’t care. He mentally shut out the guards and the Stabbingtons to turn back to his brother for a moment. He...he had to say goodbye. He couldn’t just <em> leave </em> Eugene (<em>Eugene left, </em> his mind interrupted, and Varian couldn’t <em> breathe</em>), everything in him screamed to stay, but how could he fix this in jail?</p><p>(<em>Fix </em> had always been a catchall for his attempts to put broken things back together. But this broken thing would stay broken forever, and the only way he knew how to move past it was to break and break until he couldn’t break any more.)</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry, Eugene.” He ran his hands through Eugene’s hair, memorizing the curve of his still-warm ear, smoothing his palms over closed eyelids and a jaw tight from pain. It felt like drowning, this goodbye, like he couldn’t come up for the air his brother could no longer breathe. “I love you,” he said, the finality of the words crushing. “I always will. I won’t stop until they all pay. Okay?” He sniffed. “I was too scared to be who I needed to before, but-” He choked on the words, on a laugh. “There’s nothing else to keep me back.”</p><p>He could feel the cold rage under the surface. It waited for him. It wanted him.</p><p>“C’mon, time’s up. We have to take you in, keep your hands up, and don’t try anything.” </p><p>What they said was irrelevant. </p><p>What they wanted was pathetic. </p><p>And Varian? Varian held his world in his bloodstained hands, seeking just the last bit of warmth before pulling away. He couldn’t stay or fight any longer. Not tonight. </p><p>He was gone before they could even think to catch up.</p><p>(<em>In a quick, still moment, a small form dashed across the clearing. Black and white and grey fur all melded together into one big, soft, worried lump on top of Eugene’s heart, as if seeking comfort and knowing to provide some. Ruddiger nosed at the man's jawline silently. He did not trust these large humans. He didn’t trust any but his two, and his two were so </em> lost<em>, smelling so strongly of lifeblood and fear. Ruddiger could do nothing but cower in the treeline and look for an opening.  </em></p><p><em> When the guards tried to detach his claws from Eugene’s shirt, he screamed blood and murder. They didn’t try again.</em>)</p>
<hr/><p>Miles away, a girl snapped awake in a tower. She hadn’t felt fear like this ever before, not from her other half, not due to her minefield of a mother, concern for her sister. This fear crippled her, had her shivering in bed, and suddenly she was squinting in the faint glow of her hair. Warmth, trying to escape. Headed elsewhere, channeled by someone else.</p><p><em> Him</em>, she realized, and then some of that fear was her own. The spell wasn’t working, wasn’t genuinely activating her magic, and she wished she could help it along. But that wasn’t how it worked. He had remained frustratingly out of her reach their entire lives, so of course the moment he needed her most, she could do nothing but lie in bed and feel the hurt with everything she had.</p><p>And the hurt was so <em> odd,</em> the recoil from his desperation and his cold moon-soaked presence trying to draw up her sun warmth, and it felt so wrong. But she’d do anything for him, if she could.</p><p>She clutched her blankets and squeezed her eyes shut and tried to live with the knowledge that she couldn’t.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>varian @ varian: aren't you tired of being nice? don't you just wanna go <i>apesh*t</i></p></blockquote></div></div>
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